Ireland's Irish-American comedian and television star Des Bishop turns up in his native New York for the North American premiere of MADE IN CHINA, his wildly insightful look at Chinese culture from the inside, in a three-week stint at the Barrow Street Theatre starting March 9. The strictly limited engagement through Sunday March 29 marks Bishop's return to BST where he performed "My Father Was Nearly James Bond" for a weekend run in 2010.
In MADE IN CHINA Bishop chronicles his real-life journey to China to learn Mandarin and perform stand-up comedy for a Chinese audience. In just eight months in 2013 not only did he succeed in learning a ridiculously tricky tongue, he landed a hosting job at a busy restaurant, started a comedy club, then looked for love in a Beijing trade fair for spouses before finding himself on a television dating show seen by over 40 million viewers. His adventures were captured by the Irish broadcaster RTE, which aired Breaking China -- a much-discussed, six-part reality series starring Bishop -- last year.
Bishop has earned a reputation not just for pushing boundaries, but for understanding them viscerally. In his many offbeat departures from the norm, he has taught stand-up in the toughest neighborhoods in Dublin, stirred up debate about Irish identity, alcohol and drug abuse, and freely questioned double standards toward women. MADE IN CHINA explores the very timely cultural divide between the West and China.
Bishop performed MADE IN CHINA in front of sold-out audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe this past August. There he stitched together a string of raves and 4-star reviews (Time Out gave it 5 stars). The List called it "full of excellent cultural observations, confident and assured, warm and hilarious." The Scotsman gave it 4 stars, calling it "compelling," and The Guardian deemed it, "eyebrow-raising" while giving it 4-out-of-4 stars.
Born in the Bronx, Bishop was an unruly boy, and at 14 he was sent off to boarding school in, of all places, Ireland! There, things only got better. Due to his immigrant status, he was not required to study Gaelic, which, of course inspired him to do just that. He decided to perform stand-up in Irish, which proved to be the first of Bishop's many profoundly self-challenging makeovers.
MADE IN CHINA joins Barrow Street Theatre's EVERY BRILLIANT THING, where the two will play in tandem. Performances (a total of 16) are Monday at 7:30pm; Friday at 9:30pm; Saturday at 5pm & 9:30pm, and Sunday at 5pm. For tickets, which are $45, call 212/868-4444, or visit
www.smarttix.com. The Barrow Street Theatre is located at 27 Barrow Street (Bleecker & 7th Avenue).
